By: Nancy Craig. My great nephews, Max & Eli, love to help me in my flower gardens. We have tried each spring to start some flowers from seed with varying success — usually not much. After we failed again last year with a particularly fancy seed starter kit, I decided we needed to go bigger with the seeds. We bought really big “seeds” (tuber bulbs) to grow a jungle of elephant ear plants (colocasi gigantea). Max & Eli picked out colorful pots and they each potted a “seed” to water and watch as the plant emerged and the big leaves unfurled.
OK, we did lose one plant but we potted up three so all were happy and we watched with amazement as the plants grew & grew — soon the boys had a jungle on their patio. The giant elephant ear plants were the talk of their neighborhood. Their dad wintered the bulbs over in the garage so we will be planting them again this spring.
To add to their “patio jungle” this spring we are going to try Cobra lilies. (Arisaema griffithii). Wow, big purple flower that looks like a Cobra ready to strike and the best part, it is a carnivorous plant. Boys and a bug eating plant you can’t go wrong. Next month we will share our Butterfly Window Box planting, again boys & bugs.
